Thinking of Herb Score!

rbdjr1 · January 10, 2009 5:00AM

Looking at a picture of Bob Feller on another thread reminded me of my youth in the 50s in Cleveland.

It also brought back memories of a young Herb Score with the Indians.

Just how good he was can only be measured by his first few seasons. Before he was struck by a line drive, that for all intensive purposes, ended what many believe, could have been a Hall of Fame career.

A tear in my eye formed when I heard of his passing in November. Rest in peace!

rd

Herb Score (source: http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Herb_Score_1933 )

With a catapulting delivery that left him in an awkward fielding position, Score simply overpowered American League hitters for the first two years of his career. In that short time, he joined Whitey Ford and Billy Pierce as the league's dominant lefthanded pitchers. One can only speculate about the kind of career he might have put together had his fortunes not been irreversibly altered on May 7, 1957.
As AL champions in 1954, the Indians used a starting rotation comprised exclusively of righthanders, three of whom, Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, and Early Wynn, would become Hall of Famers. Because the three were also in their mid-thirties, Score's debut in 1955 was propitiously timed. He was the first and best of a young crop of Cleveland pitchers that included Gary Bell, Mudcat Grant, and Jim Perry, and he was expected to lead the new staff in replacing the old.

Score astonished. He won 16 games, fanned a league-leading, rookie-record 245 batters, and was named AL Rookie of the Year. His 1956 seaon was more than an encore. He upped his strikeouts to 263 while taming some of the wildness he had shown in his rookie season. He posted 20 wins, pitched a league-leading five shutouts, and held opposition batters to a minuscule .186 average. Teammate Hal Newhouser, who was at the end of a career that saw him lead the AL in victories four times and in ERA and strikeouts twice, said he would trade his past for Score's future in a minute.

On May 7, 1957 at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, Gil McDougald hit a line drive that struck Score in the eye and ended his season. Questions were raised in the aftermath of the bloody scene as to whether Score would ever see properly again. He made a partial comeback in 1958, and pitched a full season in 1959. Perhaps it was the layoff or fear or loss of vision; whatever the reason, he was no longer unhittable, despite retaining a fine ratio of strikeouts to innings pitched.

As the Indians' young staff of the late 1950s came into its own, Score became expendable. He was traded to the White Sox for Barry Latman after the 1959 season. He pitched for Chicago in 1960 and for fragments of 1961 and 1962 before retiring. In 1988, Score celebrated his 25th anniversary as a play-by-play announcer for the Indians.

WinPitcher · January 10, 2009 5:02AM

Looking at a picture of Bob Feller on another thread reminded me of my youth in the 50s in Cleveland.

Wow you are old!!

Steve

goose3 · January 10, 2009 5:03AM

<< Looking at a picture of Bob Feller on another thread reminded me of my youth in the 50s in Cleveland.

Wow you are old!!

Steve

>>

I swear you stole my reply!

rbdjr1 · January 10, 2009 5:04AM

<< Looking at a picture of Bob Feller on another thread reminded me of my youth in the 50s in Cleveland.

Wow you are old!!

Steve

>>

edit: Old? Steve, (I was seven when Herb was hit!). My grandfather (had a season box)...

rd

goose3 · January 10, 2009 5:08AM

<< 
Old Steve! (I was seven when Herb was hit!)

rd >>

well you're not that old. My dad would have been 8.

rbdjr1 · January 10, 2009 5:11AM

Herb Score, pitcher derailed by line drive, dies at 75

By Richard Goldstein (International Herald Tribune)
Published: November 12, 2008

Herb Score, the Cleveland Indians left-hander who seemed destined for the Hall of Fame, only to have his career ruined when a line drive struck him in the face in one of baseball's most frightening incidents, died Tuesday in Rocky River, Ohio. He was 75.

Herb Score, the Cleveland Indians left-hander who seemed destined for the Hall of Fame only to have his career ruined when a line drive struck him in the face in one of baseball's most frightening incidents, died on Tuesday in Rocky River, Ohio. He was 75.

Score's death was announced by the Indians. He was seriously injured in an auto accident in 1998 and had been incapacitated by a stroke since 2002. He was an Indians broadcaster, mostly on radio, from 1964 to 1997. In March 1957, the Boston Red Sox offered the Indians $1 million for Score -an extraordinary sum for the time - but were turned down by Cleveland general manager, Hank Greenberg, who said that Score "may become the greatest pitcher in the game's history."

Signed to a $60,000 bonus in 1952 by Cy Slapnicka, the scout who brought the Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller to the Indians, Score seemed a left-handed version of Feller.

Score was the American League rookie of the year in 1955, when he had a 16-10 record, 2.85 earned run average and 245 strikeouts, tops in the major leagues and a record for a rookie that stood for 29 years. He went 20-9 in 1956 and was again the strikeout leader with 263.

Score was pitching against the Yankees at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. The second batter to face him, shortstop Gil McDougald, drilled a low pitch on a line right back at him. The baseball struck Score in the face, knocking him down and sending blood streaming from his right eye, nose and mouth.

Score never lost consciousness but had severe hemorrhaging in the eye and a swollen retina as well as a broken nose. He spent three weeks in a hospital. His plight brought 10,000 letters with good wishes. A California man offered to donate an eye to him.

Score was sidelined for the rest of the season, his vision fuzzy and his depth perception impaired. Although his vision returned, he won only 17 games over the next five years before retiring.

"He would have been probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, left-handed pitchers who ever lived," Feller said Tuesday on the Indians' Web site. Feller, near the end of his career when Score arrived, likened him to Sandy Koufax, the Dodgers Hall of Famer. "Herb Score had just as good a curveball as Koufax and a better fastball."

Herbert Jude Score was born in New York in the borough of Queens and moved with his family to Florida when he was a youngster.

He had a history of bad luck. When he was 3, he was struck by a bakery truck, which severely injured his legs. He missed a year of school with rheumatic fever, broke an ankle slipping on a wet locker-room floor and separated his left shoulder slipping on wet outfield grass while in the low minor leagues.

Just when he was beginning his third season, he was struck down.

McDougald was distraught. "If Herb loses the sight in his eye, I'm going to quit this game," he said in the locker room. Score never blamed McDougald.

When Score tried to pitch again in 1958, he damaged his left elbow and appeared in only 12 games.

He attempted a comeback the next season. "Herb got off to a good start," Bob Lemon, a fellow Indians pitcher, recalled 40 years later in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, adding, "but then a ball was hit back through the box and it brought back memories."

Score was 9-11 in 1959 before he was traded to the Chicago White Sox. Plagued by wildness, he struggled for another three seasons, then retired.

He had a career record of 55-46 for eight major league seasons.

In May 1997, on the 40th anniversary of his injury, Score was asked to reflect on that moment.

"I'll be married 40 years in July," he told The Plain Dealer. "That's the only anniversary I think about."

digicat · January 10, 2009 5:19AM

Herb Score. Ugh. He's the guy that the more pessimistic Giants fans like to bring up when talking about Tim Lincecum's future.

mtcards · January 10, 2009 5:21AM

Interesting story with my dad and Herb Score. We lived in Lake Worth before moving to Tennessee. Dad used to be good friends with him in high school and even would catch him at team practice sometimes and I can still remember him telling me about the story of him getting hit with the line drive.

rbdjr1 · January 10, 2009 5:32AM

<< Interesting story with my dad and Herb Score. We lived in Lake Worth before moving to Tennessee. Dad used to be good friends with him in high school and even would catch him at team practice sometimes and I can still remember him telling me about the story of him getting hit with the line drive. >>

Funny you mentioned Lake Worth!

Larry Brown (played 1963-1974) and Dick Brown (brothers) were from lake worth, florida. Both played for Cleveland. Larry still lives here South Florida, his brother Dick Brown, played in the majors from 1957-1965.

Like Herb Score, Dick's career also ended early, soon after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1965. Dick died in 1970.

rd

nightcrawler · January 10, 2009 5:38AM

Thanks for the good read Rob. I really enjoyed that, but I felt a little bad for Herb.

rbdjr1 · January 10, 2009 5:51AM

<< Looking at a picture of Bob Feller on another thread reminded me of my youth in the 50s in Cleveland.

Wow you are old!!

Steve

>>

Wait just a minute Steve,

you want old! Ok,I'll give you old!

rd

Grandma Moses - Rube - Mother Teresa

alnavman · January 11, 2009 12:46AM

Herb did a number of shows in the Cleveland area over the years and was a class act.

MeteoriteGuy · January 11, 2009 2:08AM

+1 for Herb Score...thanks for sharing.

yawie99 · January 11, 2009 4:16AM

One of my first vintage buys was a '56 Topps Score. I couldn't afford a Hall of Famer back in the day, so I went for a player who at least had an interesting story, which my dad, who was almost 12 at the time, had told me about. He was a Cardinals fan, of course, but I guess that kind of injury resonated across the baseball world.

JohnnyD · January 11, 2009 4:18AM

I am a life-long Clevelander (suburb) 46 years old now but I grew up listening to Herb announce the Indians games. He was great, even though most of those teams were realy bad he made the games interesting. I can't think of Indians baseball without thinking of Herb.

rbdjr1 · January 11, 2009 5:27AM

<< I am a life-long Clevelander (suburb) 46 years old now but I grew up listening to Herb announce the Indians games. He was great, even though most of those teams were realy bad he made the games interesting. I can't think of Indians baseball without thinking of Herb. >>

Johnny,

Do you like the new or the old Cleveland Stadium better? I moved away from Cleveland long before the Jake was conceived!

What a thrill it was for a kid to witness a Cleveland Indians home run at Cleveland Municipal Stadium from the likes of Rocky Colavito, Minnie Minoso and even a home run hitting shortstop like, Woodie Held! Just to see that old "million dollar scoreboard" shoot off those fireworks, was a kids' dream!

The new Cleveland scoreboard also looks

rd

IchiroDeported · January 11, 2009 5:34AM

Jacobs field is a great place to see a game; I've seen several and the folks/fans were great too.

WinPitcher · January 11, 2009 5:43AM

lol I was 3 when he was hit.

Steve

metrotheme · January 11, 2009 8:09AM

I interviewed quite a few players who played with and against him in the Cleveland minor league system in the early 1950's and they said he was a difficult assignment for two reasons:
1) He threw extremely hard
2) He was wild

It came in hard and you didn't know where it was going. He made it difficult for you to get set in the box. I wrote to him about a year ago and he signed an index card and a baseball card. I think he signed cards pretty close to the end, even though he was sick. Class act, at least by the way of the TTM guys.

alnavman · January 11, 2009 9:37AM

<< 

<< I am a life-long Clevelander (suburb) 46 years old now but I grew up listening to Herb announce the Indians games. He was great, even though most of those teams were realy bad he made the games interesting. I can't think of Indians baseball without thinking of Herb. >>

Johnny,

Do you like the new or the old Cleveland Stadium better? I moved away from Cleveland long before the Jake was conceived!

What a thrill it was for a kid to witness a Cleveland Indians home run at Cleveland Municipal Stadium from the likes of Rocky Colavito, Minnie Minoso and even a home run hitting shortstop like, Woodie Held! Just to see that old "million dollar scoreboard" shoot off those fireworks, was a kids' dream!

The new Cleveland scoreboard also looks

rd

Hi RD, I've also lived in the Cleveland area my entire life so thought I'd give you my thoughts on the two stadiums. Cleveland Stadium was cool but the new stadium is better in my opinion. The only thing I miss from the lakefront stadium is that you could sit right down by the bullpens and talk with the players during the game, that is if they were in the mood.......That is next to impossible at Progressive Field.....

>>

Thinking of Herb Score!

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